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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26696527">Resurrected [Book 1]</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikaielaFranqui/pseuds/MikaielaFranqui'>MikaielaFranqui</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>RESURRECTED [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 05:08:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>19,402</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26696527</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikaielaFranqui/pseuds/MikaielaFranqui</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alice Longbottom/Frank Longbottom, Alicia Spinnet/Oliver Wood, Andromeda Black Tonks/Ted Tonks, Angelina Johnson/George Weasley, Arthur Weasley/Molly Weasley, Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Bellatrix Black Lestrange/Rodolphus Lestrange, Dean Thomas/Ginny Weasley, Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Katie Bell/Fred Weasley, Lucius Malfoy/Narcissa Black Malfoy, Moaning Myrtle/Harry Potter, Neville Longbottom/Luna Lovegood, Penelope Clearwater/Percy Weasley, Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>RESURRECTED [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1942717</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Resurrection</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"Avada Kedavra!"</em>
  <br/>
  <em>"Expelliarmus!"</em>
</p>
<p>With Voldemort's body crumbling to bits before his eyes, Harry closed his eyes for a brief moment, hoping that this would finally signify the beginning of a normal life for him. Maybe get away from the rest of the world for a few weeks, come back to Ron and Hermione, renovate Grimmauld Place, sort out the Potter and Black inheritances at Gringotts, and figure out what he wanted to do as a career. However, as always, Lady Fate had other plans, as was made clear by the uncharacteristic screams of confusion, fear and apprehension that suddenly erupted all around them.</p>
<p>Harry opened his eyes to find beacons of light streaking across the sky, almost in an orderly fashion, headed straight for the Hogwarts grounds. He had barely registered what was happening when Ron and Hermione grabbed him by the back of his jacket, seizing him and dragging him back into the mass of students and scattered Order members. Minerva had her wand at the ready, as the teachers braced themselves for what they considered another attack, but before any of the beacons of light could hit the ground, dark smoke billowed up in the middle of the gathering, revealing a hooded figure.</p>
<p>"There is no need to fear." For a voice so emotionless and blank, there was something strangely calming about the deep voice radiating from the figure. "This is merely the result of an event that no one could have predicted happening. It was unexpected that one could achieve the status of the Resurrecter without the intention of attaining it, and while making absolutely no efforts for personal gain. As such, only one who had never tried to reverse the past, never tried to bring back the dead no matter how much they wished for it, and gathered the Deathly Hallows with no intention of resurrecting the dead, could achieve the status of Resurrecter. As this was a phenomenon expected not to occur in all time, it was promised that if it ever occurred, fifty dead people of significance to the Resurrecter would be granted life again. Special powers that have only ever been speculated in theoretically, as well as unparalleled magical prowess would be granted to the said person. The phenomenon of returning the 50 lucky souls life again is what is occurring now, so it would probably be in everyone's best interests to maintain calm and quiet to whatever extent possible."</p>
<p>"That was Death," Hermione whispered quietly, her face deadly pale. "Harry, what have we done?!"</p>
<p>"<em>You</em> set us on the track of the Hallows!" he hissed back, wanting nothing more than to fade into nothingness. </p>
<p>Their banter was cut short as the first beacon of light hit the ground, revealing none other than Severus Snape. Harry groaned. Of all the people who could have hit first! Minerva began to advance on him, but Harry quickly made his way over to her. "Professor, wait!" Both Minerva and Snape turned to him, nothing short of astonished. "It's best if we don't act yet. In fact, there's a lot that you don't know that happened in this last year, and the year before as well. So, I'd like a chance to explain everything that has happened before we give out verdicts on anyone. That goes for <em>everyone</em>."</p>
<p>There was a ripple of quiet murmurs, but Minerva still raised her wand. "<em>Expelliarmus</em>!" She turned back to Harry. "I believe delivering verdicts can wait, as you say, Harry."</p>
<p>Just then, the second beacon of light hit the ground, and the light faded with a loud hoot, and Hedwig flew out, landing on Harry's shoulder with an affectionate nip to his hear. He grinned. "I've missed you, girl." He never thought that he would be glad that he hadn't replaced her, but he was. He had grown incredibly fond of her, and couldn't imagine having any other owl other than her.</p>
<p>Another beacon of light hit the ground, this time revealing a very confused looking elf. "DOBBY!" All three of the golden trio roared in delight. The elf looked like he would pass out from pride. "I'm so glad you're here, Dobby!" Harry laughed, reaching down to gingerly pat the top of the elf's head. Dobby's eyes welled up in gratitude. "For you, Harry Potter, Dobby will do it all again!"</p>
<p>They were interrupted by another blinding flash of light striking the ground. Fred Weasley stood in the spot of burnt grass, and all at once, all hell seemed to break loose. Ron tore himself away from his two best friends and raced towards him, followed closely by the other Weasleys, but it was Percy who got there first, seconds before George, and the three ended up falling down. Molly and Arthur were crying, while Bill and Charlie, having recovered somewhat, were doing their best to pry apart their four younger brothers from a mess of entangled limbs, while Fleur held a sobbing Ginny.</p>
<p>Another ball of light landed, inches from the reunited Weasleys, and they all scrambled up. Remus stood, brushing himself off, looking around anxiously, and Harry threw all cautions to the winds as he barreled into the man, followed closely by both Hermione and Ron, who had done his fair share of strangling the elder Weasley twin. Remus laughed, as his arms wrapped firmly around Harry. </p>
<p>The next ball of light brought the much loved Metamorphagus Tonks back to life, and Remus pulled her in for a tight hug instantly, before Ginny and Hermione both flung their arms around her. There wasn't a single dry eye in the whole compound, save maybe Kingsley, who as the newly appointed Minister for Magic, was struggling to keep things under control, with little success.</p>
<p>Following her was Alastor Moody, whose resurrection brought up a mixed reaction of laughter and groans, but Tonks immediately left her husband's side to go and give him a one-armed hug. Mad-Eye seemed to be looking for something, though, and when his magical eye finally found Harry, he only lifted his cane as a gesture of acknowledgement. </p>
<p>A soft shriek accompanied the next ball of light, which revealed a terrified Colin Creevy, who was clutching his wand in one hand and his camera in the other, and he was immediately tackled to the ground by his younger brother. Harry smiled tentatively, but also fervently hoped that the boy would quit the unholy obsession he had with him henceforth.</p>
<p>Another blazing light trail hit the ground and Lavender Brown sat up, nursing her head with one hand and she stumbled to her feet. Ron quickly dove behind Hermione, who was only halfheartedly trying to repress a smile, while Harry only rolled his eyes. Remus noticed the exchange, but decided not to say anything for now, as he caught sight of the next approaching light trail.</p>
<p>The trail Remus had been following hit the ground, revealing Ted Tonks, who looked both confused and tired, and Tonks once again left her husband's side to throw her arms around her father. She had never truly gotten over his death, nor had she come to terms with his loss, and now she had him back. It was some crazy turn of fate, but she was eternally grateful for it.</p>
<p>The next ball of light brought a man who seemed thoroughly confused as to where he was, but was immediately recognized by the Order, as well as by Ted Tonks. "Dirk! Dirk Creswell!" Kingsley gladly welcomed the loyal Order member back, and the two got to talking about whether Creswell would take up the Head of the Goblin Liaison Office once again. </p>
<p>The next one to be resurrected was even more difficult to recognize, but once again, it was Ted Tonks and Dirk Creswell who recognized him. "Gornuk!" The goblin gladly headed towards Creswell, who he had known for quite a long time. </p>
<p>Then came Bathilda Bagshot, which instantly made a wave of nausea crash through Harry. Remus noticed when the teenager swayed dangerously, and quickly slipped an arm around his shoulders. Harry blinked rapidly before his eyesight cleared and he looked up gratefully at Remus. Hermione was rocking nervously in Ron's arms, with the latter murmuring soothingly into her hair.</p>
<p>Soon after, the next ball of light brought back Hogwarts' former Muggle Studies teacher, Charity Burbage stood there, and was fondly greeted by several of her former students.</p>
<p>The next trail of light resulted in an uproar as Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore strode back to the school, with all the students surging to welcome him back, with Harry, Ron, Hermione, Remus and Minerva in the lead, and Gryffindor Head's eyes were suspiciously wet once again. Dumbledore, however, turned first to Harry, though his eyes were twinkling brighter than ever. "Well done." Harry found that he truly did not hold a grudge against his former Headmaster, and replied with a sincere smile. "Thank you, Professor." Ron and Hermione echoed in like.</p>
<p>Behind them, the next trail light crashed into the ground, and they turned to find a beautiful blonde woman walking straight towards Dumbledore. "Emmeline." Dumbledore's voice was warm as he tipped his head in acknowledgement of the Order member who had been murdered in cold blood for her loyalty. "Professor." She smiled up at him before being escorted away by Sprout.</p>
<p>Emmeline Vance was followed by Amelia Bones (who was enthusiastically greeted by her niece, Susan Bones) and Florean Fortescue, who was warmly welcomed by the students as a whole.</p>
<p>The next ball of light seemed to fade away a lot faster, and it was Harry who moved first, crashing into his godfather as they both toppled over onto the ground. Remus followed, pulling them both up, before hugging Sirius like his life depended on it. Tonks, Ron and Hermione followed, each of them hugging Sirius tightly with their eyes filled. Sirius' eyes never once left his godson, and once the others seemed to have enough of hugging him, he slung an arm around Harry, pulling him close. "I'm so sorry I left you, pup." Harry nodded, unable to speak as his head turned into Sirius' chest.</p>
<p>Not many people seemed to recognize the next person to be resurrected, but Luna screamed in delight as she ran into the woman's arms, and then Harry was left in no doubt about the person's identity. Pandora Lovegood, who had accidentally killed herself during one of her experiments, was back. Harry smiled at Luna, while Neville hovered behind them at a respectful distance.</p>
<p>Next was Cedric Diggory, and this turned out to be nearly as painful as seeing Bathilda return. Harry couldn't bear to look at the Hufflepuff champion, who was being earnestly welcomed back by his housemates, and Sirius noticed that his godson's grip on his coat was so tight that his knuckles were white. Sirius sighed softly and clasped his shoulder comfortingly.</p>
<p>Following Cedric, came Bartemius Crouch Senior and Bertha Jorkins, both of who were officially greeted by Kingsley Shacklebolt, before they began talking in hushed tones.</p>
<p>The next ball of light brought back to life someone no one had been expecting. Myrtle Warren stepped out of the light, pushing her glasses defiantly higher on her nose. Her defiant gaze softened as they fell on Harry, who for some reason was unusually happy to see her and smiled at her broadly. Sirius was a little taken aback, but decided to save the question for later. Remus came to stand with them, since Tonks had found her mother, who had Flooed in with little Teddy, and the Tonks family was having a small reunion and he had only just managed to save himself. To everyone's astonishment, Myrtle came to stand near Harry and Sirius, and when the next ball of light caught everyone's attention, she slipped her hand into his, which went unnoticed by the others.</p>
<p>The next two lights came parallel to each other, blinding the crowd temporarily, and faded out to reveal a grinning James Potter and an anxious looking Lily Potter. Harry's eyes filled, and then overflowed, completely uninhibited. Sirius gave him a little nudge, and that was all the encouragement he needed - he bound forward, throwing himself into his father's arms while Lily swooped down to join the hug. Sirius and Remus followed close behind, hugging both James and Lily together, with Harry more or less smothered amidst the four of them.</p>
<p>Just like James and Lily, the next two lights also descended together, and everyone stood back expectantly. Harry closed one hand around Myrtle's once again, while James and Sirius flanked him. James' other arm was loped possessively around Lily. Myrtle stood by Harry's side in front of James, and Remus was standing directly behind Harry. However, when the light faded, it was Molly Weasley who flew, pulling two identical men into a hug. It took Harry only a second to realize who they must be - her older twin brothers who died in the war, the infamous Fabian and Gideon Prewett.</p>
<p>Following the Prewett twins came Edgar Bones (who was immediately recognized by his sister and daughter) and then a beautiful plump woman who Harry thought was vaguely familiar. A soft gasp left Sirius, and Lily rushed to hug her. At Harry's confused look, Remus helped him out. "She was an early member of the Order. Her name is Marlene McKinnon. She was in our year at Hogwarts." Seeing as this naturally did not explain everyone's reaction to her, James completed the mystery for his son. "Well - there might have been someone who was a tad bit smit-" "PRONGS!!" Sirius roared.</p>
<p>The next ball of light seemed to take forever to land, and when it did, Harry thought it was no wonder. Vincent Crabbe, who had tried to kill him just a few hours ago, stood there, looking confused and slightly guilty. Ron advanced, wand drawn, but Hermione and Ginny both yanked him back by the back of his shirt, while Draco wrenched himself free of his parents to check on his closest friend.</p>
<p>Following Crabbe came another man that only Harry and Dumbledore seemed to recognize, and Harry was glad that the Headmaster immediately busied himself with trying to make the foreign wand maker feel at home, and, from the expression on his face, try to explain what had happened.</p>
<p>The next streak of light was the least bright of all so far, and descended a lot slower than even Crabbe's did. Harry had a sinking feeling in the bottom of his stomach, and he was proven right, when the light faded and pandemonium broke out once again. "LET ME GO!" Sirius roared, struggling to get out of Harry's grip. "I'LL KILL HIM!" Lily was similarly struggling to keep a hold on her husband, and Hermione was clinging in vain onto Ron. "LET GO, DORA!" Even Remus' face was contorted with anger, and it was all Tonks could do to simply wrap herself as awkwardly as she could around him. Harry felt the blood rush to his head, making it pound, and turned quite gratefully into Myrtle's warm embrace. "<em>Expelliarmus!</em>" All eyes swiveled to Minerva, who had disarmed Pettigrew just as calmly as she had Snape, and the former Headmistress now turned to Harry, who was honestly feeling quite faint now. "Are you sure you're alright, Mr. Potter?" At that, James calmed down, worry replacing his rage as he turned to his son, who just nodded weakly. Sirius stopped fighting Harry's weakening grip and helped him stand so that he was supporting most of Harry's weight. "Sorry, pup," he whispered gently, and Harry shook his head in dismissal. Lily advanced towards her son anxiously, but Remus discretely shook his head in warning, knowing that Harry needed some time to adjust.</p>
<p>In the chaos following the arrival of Peter Pettigrew, there had been three streaks of light, which had gone completely unnoticed by them. Rufus Scrimgeour, Bogrod - the goblin who had inadvertently been killed by the Ukrainian Iron-belly that the trio had freed from Gringotts - and Karen Abbott, Hannah's mother, were now mingling with the crowd quite easily.</p>
<p>The next few lights brought back returns that Harry only seemed to notice through a daze. He vaguely heard Marlene and Lily welcoming back someone called Dorcas Meadowes, Broderick Bode, and Benjy Fenwick. Sirius felt Harry sag slightly against him, and immediately put a supportive arm around him. "Are you alright, pup?" Harry nodded weakly, and Sirius sighed as Harry looked up at the next return, Frank Bryce. The embodiment of this Muggle man had appeared the night Voldemort returned, telling him that the Dark Lord had been planning to kill him. Harry offered him a soft smile, but the man didn't notice, and it was, once again, Dumbledore who escorted him away.</p>
<p>Following the appearance of the odd Muggle man, two lights came down parallelly, once again gaining all of their attention. The lights revealed Nicolas and Perenelle, once again, who were attended to by Dumbledore. Vaguely, Harry wondered if he had made somewhat of a nuisance of himself to the Headmaster, since he wasn't exactly attending to any of the Returns he didn't know.</p>
<p>His thoughts were cut short when another streak of light, which also seemed to move at the same pace as Crabbe's, hit the ground, revealing a foreign-looking wizard. "<em>Expelliarmus</em>!" It wasn't Minerva, but Dumbledore who reacted this time, lowering his wand as he caught his unsuspecting opponent's wand smoothly. "It's been quite a long time, Gellert."</p>
<p>The next streak of light came down pretty fast, but Harry couldn't recall having ever seen the man it revealed. Sirius' soft gasp followed by the tightening of his fist, however, gave him a good enough idea. "It's okay, Siri." Sirius turned to face his godson with a questioning look. "I'll explain later, but Regulus was actually a really good guy."</p>
<p>The following streak of light shone brighter than most of the others, revealing a beautiful middle-aged witch dressed in robes of nearly a century ago. Aberforth Dumbledore made to move forward, but it was his elder brother who got there first, not even trying to cover up his tears. "Mother." Kendra Dumbledore smiled, beckoning to Aberforth to join them as she hugged them both tightly.</p>
<p>The next streak of light had barely started to fade out before Aberforth threw his arms around the small figure that stepped out of it, and Harry didn't need to see the person to know who it was. Albus and Kendra immediately joined him, and when Albus had hugged the life out of his sister, Kendra immediately picked the little girl up in her arms, sighing a breath of contentment.</p>
<p>The last four streaks of light were the brightest of all, and everyone's mouths seemed to drop. Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin stepped out, looking only  faintly amused at the sight of the utterly shocked crowd. For once, even Dumbledore was sporting a completely lost expression. </p>
<p>"We were brought back to reveal our own secrets," Helga said, ever the spokesperson of the Founders. "If we hadn't tried to embody our personalities within a hat, and entrusted our own offspring with them, we might never have landed in these wars. If we had been truthful about our children, both legitimate and illegitimate, known and hidden, none of this might have happened. There were so many Scrolls of Legend that we had hidden away, secret to even each other, praying that one particular Prophecy would never come true. Our fear of the Prophecy, the only true Prophecy that was made by Merlin himself, was so great that it caused rifts in what used to be a rock solid friendship. I believe those traits have unconsciously been passed down among the Houses for generations as well."</p>
<p>"We're going to tell you the truth now, the whole truth," Godric said calmly. "There will be a lot of things that will end up being pretty surprising, but the truth isn't always pleasant to hear."</p>
<p>"The Prophecy first, then," Salazar said, glancing at his three friends, who all nodded in approval. "We were students of Merlin, and it was from there that we got the idea of making our own school, with the intentions of passing down our magi to future generations. However, as the four of us were exceptionally powerful, and specializing in vastly different fields of magic, it soon became clear that trying to endow students with that much knowledge of all of our respective fields, wreaked havoc with their magic. A few unfortunate ones were not able to tolerate the kind of magic we were asking them to perform, and matters came to a head when one of the students died from the strain our training put on her magic. We headed back to our own teacher for a solution. </p>
<p>Instead, however, our revelation of the problems we faced sent him to the Mist, and he made a Prophecy. The Prophecy spoke of a Heir - the Heir of Hogwarts. He would accomplish the impossible before being recognized as the Blood Heir of Hogwarts, and he would be far more powerful than even Merlin himself, having achieved what Merlin hadn't dared dream of. He would have magical gifts that were previously unheard of, and the blood of all the Founders runs within him, though he will grow up unaware of that. Though that was all that was said in the Prophecy, it worried us all immensely. It was as though we had gone to fix one problem and come back with a lot more. In the end, we decided that no matter what, there should never be such an intermarriage to allow the Prophecy to occur. </p>
<p>It was us, deciding to rebel against Fate itself, that started all of this. Despite our agreement, by that time, we all had feelings for each other. I loved Rowena, but her heart belonged to Godric. However, we had known from our days of learning that Godric was head over heels for Helga, who was quite torn between her feelings for us both. With our friendship at stake over the pact we made, I was sure that none of us would ever end up marrying or having children with the ones we loved. I'll admit now that Godric was the only one who could truly keep the pact. He was determined not to do anything that would ruin our friendship. However, after repeatedly being rejected by Godric, Rowena's feelings soon began to change. All those years, it was easy to stay away, knowing that I was no more than a friend to her. Things changed when I realized that now she had feelings for me. However, with Godric so strongly repressing his own feelings, I held on for another three years before I caved. We did not get married, because there would be no way to keep it a secret from Godric and Helga. What we did not expect was forgetting to cast precautionary spells just one night would lead to disaster. Rowena ended up pregnant, and she wouldn't reveal the father to the others. However, Godric had a gift for being able to tell bloodlines, and he could tell that my magic ran in the baby. Naturally, there was a falling out, though at first, he thought that I had taken advantage of her due to my own feelings. We dueled for a couple of weeks, but eventually got over the misunderstanding. Once he realized it was mutual, Godric accepted the matter and even insisted that we get married, so we did. He was determined not to let anything happen between him and Helga or Rowena. However, Helga was furious. She insisted that it was unfair that Godric and she stayed away for the better of the world, and that we gave in to primal desire without any regard for them. Eventually, Rowena believed that what we had done was truly wrong. She wanted out of the marriage, and I wouldn't hear of it. When I absolutely refused to agree, she and Helga began to plot to thwart the marriage, one way or another. They swapped appearances and places, with Rowena safely at Helga's house, while Helga tried to reason with me. We came to an agreement that once Rowena delivered the child, we would get divorced. With that settled, Helga asked me to help her to get rid of the feelings she was sure of now, that she had for Godric. I had been guilt-tripped enough to believe that we could still work it out. Godric deserved to be happy just as much or even more than we did. I egged Helga on, saying that we would just make sure there were no intermarriages between our lines. When Helga renewed her efforts to get together with Godric, he called me out, saying he wanted to talk. He said that deep down, he had had a bad gut feeling about Rowena and I, but he just wanted us to be happy. He said he was not gonna do anything that was sure to eat at his conscience, and he asked me to convince Helga to back off. To prove his point, a few months after that talk, he got married to Morgana Black. </p>
<p>As agreed, Rowena and I divorced afterward. However, what I didn't expect was that Rowena was bitter at me for not allowing her to terminate the pregnancy, and she deliberately avoided all contact with me afterwards. I was allowed to visit my son, Corvinus Gaunt, who was named after Rowena's father, twice a year. The rest of the time I often spent with Godric, or Helga, who grew increasingly closer to me. Knowing that I had already seen this pattern of events, I did my best to dissuade her. She was hurting from years of rejection, just like Rowena once was, and Salazar was sure that even Godric's kind heart would never forgive either of them if anything untoward were to happen. I did go, very concisely, slightly crazy from the divorce with Rowena. I slept around with random women, and that was where Helga, who was determined not to lose the battle of love with me that she had lost with Godric, did the most unthinkable thing of all. Knowing that she was just about the only woman I wouldn't dare to bed, no matter how drunk, she disguised herself, taking on the appearance of an extremely beautiful Muggle woman, and tricked me into sleeping with her. This went on for nearly a year, and along the way, Helga got pregnant. I was honestly considering getting married again, given how well this supposedly new woman made me behave, but just as we started talking about marriage, we unfortunately happened to run into the very same woman who was being impersonated. I immediately knew that Helga had fooled me, in her bid to get revenge on Godric for pushing her away, but the pregnancy was too far along to be terminated without serious damage or potentially death to Helga. What was worse was that I had kept Godric updated about the new woman I was with, and he had been genuinely happy for me. When I broke up with her, she was naturally devastated, and went straight back to Rowena, where she confessed everything that had happened. This was starting to sound worrisome, with there being now two family lines that would carry my blood along with one of the other Founders'. Godric, as you could expect, never forgave me for it. I accepted that it was my fault for not seeing through Helga more clearly, and in the end, without informing anyone, I moved to America, hoping that this would distance me from anything to do with the Prophecy or Hogwarts. To make sure that I saw things through to the end, I stopped using magic and began living in the Muggle world. It took years of learning to live without magic, and along the way, I met and fell in love with a Muggle lady. This time, despite the irony of it all, I checked for her magical status, and once I had done all I could to confirm she was not an imposter, we got married, and unconventional as it was, I took her family name. When our son turned out to be a wizard, I explained to my wife's family everything that had happened, so even though there were wizards in every generation after our children, they kept it a secret. I lost all contact with my friends, I wouldn't say without any regrets, but I was determined to keep it that way, and so it was. I died with none of my friends even being aware of it to attend the funeral.</p>
<p>Before I explain further, however, I will let you know that our magic was powerful enough to transcend the realms of life and death. We had the power to watch over the world even after death, and it was a reunion of souls when I died. We had called a truce of sorts where each of us watched our own generations. Things started to go bad around four generations after us. Morfin Gaunt had three children, not two, but the first child was taken away by the mother, who could not stand his drinking or violence anymore. This child was brought up under the mother's maiden name of Casper, and was called Katherine Casper. She got married to Acinus Oden, who was a descendant of mine and Helga. They had two children, Jasper and Marie. So now there were two children carrying the blood of three Founders. Marie grew up as a beautiful young lady who would later marry a Muggle going by the name of Edmund Evans. They had a child, Lily Evans. In the meantime, Gryffindor's descendants, while having no bias against Muggleborns, had so far never married outside of Pureblood families, until the last of the Gryffindor line married Lily Evans, and the blood of the four Founders united in their son. It was impossible for anyone to tell that it would happen. Marie was believed to be a Squib at best, but her daughter turned out to be an exceptional witch. This was a common occurrence among Muggles, so no one was prepared to realize that Lily Evans actually carried the blood of three Founders. The last family belonging to the Gryffindor heritage, and the only one still in existence, is the Potters."</p>
<p>Harry's head began to pound as though a herd of Thestrals were kicking up a storm there. He could feel everyone's eyes turning to him, and all he wanted was to be out of there. He had just gotten rid of one Prophecy, and it had destroyed his life for a whole sixteen years. He had had more than enough of Prophecies. Sirius' arm around him grew tighter.</p>
<p>"Okay." It was Hermione who eventually broke the silence. "It's honestly been a really long day for everyone. Right now, we should go get patched up - I'm sure everyone has gotten hurt somehow - and after that, we all should get something to eat. We can leave the figuring out everything that happened for LATER. There's absolutely nothing that needs to be done about any of it right this minute."</p>
<p>There was a murmur of agreement as everyone trudged back to the castle. While the Returns had been happening, Hogwarts' army of house elves had already gotten to work. The Great Hall was already cleared up, the Head Table was all set up, and the House tables were back to normal. Poppy and some of the Healers who had Flooed in from St. Mungo's began to tend to the most seriously injured, while everyone else just took their seats at the tables, and began to tuck into the hot food that appeared as they began to talk, eat and exchange information.</p>
<p>Harry, Ron and Hermione exchanged quick looks with each other, and ate as quickly as they could, knowing that there were going to be a lot of explanations to be done. Sirius, Remus and James had all noticed this, and without attracting much attention, similarly ate faster than they normally did. </p>
<p>"Harry, we're going to have to-"<br/>"Tell them, yeah, but -"<br/>"There's no way you're getting out of this, mate." </p>
<p>Harry groaned. "Will you let me finish?" The two looked only slightly abashed as they grinned and nodded. "I was going to say we'll miss stuff if we talk. I was going to suggest that we ask Professor Dumbledore if we could borrow the Pensieve, and they can just watch the memories."</p>
<p>"That's a much better-"<br/>"Of course you can borrow it, Harry." </p>
<p>The trio wheeled around to find Dumbledore and almost all the teachers right behind them.</p>
<p>"We should show all the seven years," Hermione said finally, when she realized that neither of the boys were going to admit it. "It's the only way anything makes sense."</p>
<p>"Alright." There was no arguing with Hermione when she took that tone. "Who all want to come to watch the memories?"</p>
<p>In the end, it turned out that there were a lot of people who wanted to see them. James, Lily, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Kingsley, Dumbledore, Minerva, Neville, Luna, Hagrid, and all the Weasleys signed up. Harry found that he didn't have a single valid excuse to argue with a single one of them, and in the end, he was just too tired to even bother.</p>
<p>"Let's start with the first year, then."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The Vanishing Glass</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They tumbled headfirst into the living room of Privet Drive. Harry had somehow managed to wedge himself between his two best friends, with the Weasley twins discretely shadowing him. They knew that he hated remembering anything concerning the Dursleys, and the twins had seen firsthand that there was no stopping their hatred for Harry.</p><p><strong>Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at </strong> <strong>all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys’ front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets — but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too. </strong></p><p>"Why weren't there any pictures of you?" James asked, annoyed. "Why were you even living with them?!" </p><p>"It'll be explained soon. Remus wouldn't have been custody - and Sirius, well, you'll see in my third year, why I couldn't live with him," Harry explained hurriedly.</p><p><strong>Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His </strong> <strong>Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise </strong> <strong>of the day. </strong></p><p>"I don't envy you that." Ron groaned. He hated being woken up, but he had also heard Petunia's voice in person, and he truly felt sorry for what Harry had gone through.</p><p>
  <strong>“Up! Get up! Now!”</strong>
</p><p>"Heavens above!" Lily exclaimed, before turning to her son. "How old were you?"</p><p>"Nearly eleven." Harry winced as Lily's glare at her sister intensified. </p><p>
  <strong>Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.</strong>
</p><p>"Did she even bother taking a second to breathe?" Hermione muttered.</p><p><strong> “Up!” she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then </strong> <strong>the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he’d had the same dream before. </strong></p><p>"WAIT WAIT WAIT!!" All eyes fell on the Black Heir. "You hadn't been on that motorcycle since you were one! How could you possibly remember that?!"</p><p>"No idea." They turned back to the memory.</p><p><strong>His aunt was back outside the door. </strong> <strong>“Are you up yet?” she demanded. </strong></p><p>"Well. It's a good thing you wake up, then," Hermione huffed. "Even though that is completely unacceptable."</p><p>
  <strong>“Nearly,” said Harry. </strong>
</p><p>"Tell me you aren't going to get in trouble for that." Everyone who didn't know what the Dursleys were like eyed Ron curiously at his comment. </p><p>
  <strong>“Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don’t you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy’s birthday.”</strong>
</p><p>"Wait, you were cooking?" Hermione hadn't known about that particular detail. "Why wasn't she doing it?" At that, Harry merely shrugged.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry groaned.</strong>
</p><p>No one seemed to have anything against the clearly disrespectful gesture, but it was a token that they didn't stand what the Dursleys had done, not one bit.</p><p>
  <strong>“What did you say?” his aunt snapped through the door.</strong>
</p><p>"How can you even mistake that as someone saying something?" the twins grumbled.</p><p>
  <strong>“Nothing, nothing . . .”</strong>
</p><p>There was a soft murmur of protest at how easily Harry was letting it slip by, but it wasn't as though they didn't understand the circumstances.</p><p><strong>Dudley’s birthday — how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out </strong> <strong>of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after </strong> <strong>pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, </strong> <strong>because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he </strong> <strong>slept.</strong></p><p>"What do you mean, that was where you slept?!" James rounded on Harry, hazel eyes blazing with fury. Harry was eternally grateful that Hermione had everyone's wands.</p><p>"They - that's just how it was." Harry avoided making eye contact, and a quick glance at the twins' stormy faces convinced James to drop the matter for the time being.</p><p><strong>When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table </strong> <strong>was almost hidden beneath all Dudley’s birthday presents. It looked as </strong> <strong>though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the </strong> <strong>second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing </strong> <strong>bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise — </strong> <strong>unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley’s favorite punching </strong> <strong>bag was Harry, but he couldn’t often catch him. Harry didn’t look it, but he </strong> <strong>was very fast. </strong></p><p>"Well, I'm not surprised he is a bully," Sirius snarled, "but he <em>will</em> pay for laying hands on you."</p><p><strong>Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry </strong> <strong>had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and </strong> <strong>skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of </strong> <strong>Dudley’s, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a </strong> <strong>thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round </strong> <strong>glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley </strong> <strong>had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own </strong> <strong>appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of </strong> <strong>lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question </strong> <strong>he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it. </strong></p><p>"I wonder what kind of lies she filled your head with," Lily scowled. She knew perfectly well that never in a million years would Petunia tell Harry the truth about them.</p><p><strong>“In the car crash when your parents died,” she had said. “And don’t ask </strong> <strong>questions.” </strong></p><p>"LIES!" Both James and Lily roared in outrage, and Sirius and Remus only managed to keep their calm because they had heard this version of the story from a fuming Hagrid.</p><p>"Mr. and Mrs. Potter, I must insist that you remain calm," Minerva said, but her voice was more dangerous than Harry had ever heard it.</p><p>
  <strong>Don’t ask questions — that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“Comb your hair!” he barked, by way of a morning greeting. </strong>
</p><p>"There's absolutely no point," Remus laughed. </p><p>"Charles Potter invented the Sleakazy Hair Potion that only never worked on the Potter hair," Sirius grinned.</p><p><strong>About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper </strong> <strong>and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts </strong> <strong>than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, </strong> <strong>his hair simply grew that way — all over the place. </strong></p><p>"Easiest way to tell a Potter apart, and Merlin knows how many generations its been," Sirius smirked, and was answered by a death glare from the two men in question.</p><p><strong>Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his </strong> <strong>mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not </strong> <strong>much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly </strong> <strong>on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby </strong> <strong>angel — Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig. </strong></p><p>That cracked everyone up, including the normally reserved Minerva. She noticed that deep down, he was still very much like James - what with mischievous outlook and all - but he was also very much like his mother - honest to a fault, witty and charming with her behavior. If only this child had grown up normally, with his parents, she would have one person being the equivalent of ten Marauders, not that she would ever admit as much to them, but she knew it would have been that way. </p><p><strong>Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as </strong> <strong>there wasn’t much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His </strong> <strong>face fell. </strong></p><p>"But there's a ridiculous amount of them!" Ron exclaimed in surprise. He knew that he would have been far more than just grateful if he had gotten even half the number of presents on the table.</p><p><strong>“Thirty-six,” he said, looking up at his mother and father. “That’s two less </strong> <strong>than last year.” </strong></p><p>"Wait, he keeps track of how many he gets EVERY YEAR?!" Bill was horrified at the very thought. He knew that his younger brothers wouldn't know, but when he was very young, there were a couple of birthdays on which his parents hadn't been able to afford any presents, and they had still had a fun time anyway. He simply couldn't comprehend how spoiled the boy was.</p><p><strong>“Darling, you haven’t counted Auntie Marge’s present, see, it’s here under </strong> <strong>this big one from Mummy and Daddy.” </strong></p><p>Molly made an unabashed noise of disapproval. Her family may never have had money, but she was sure that even if they did, none of her children would have dared to pull a fuss over the number of presents they got on an occasion, even if it was their birthday. Worse still, she couldn't help but be disgusted with the way Vernon and Petunia were bringing up their son.</p><p><strong>“All right, thirty-seven then,” said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, </strong> <strong>who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his </strong> <strong>bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over. </strong></p><p>"Turned the table over?!" Both Lily and Molly exclaimed in horror. "He was allowed to <em>turn the table over</em>?!" </p><p>Harry nodded weakly.</p><p><strong>Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, </strong> <strong>“And we’ll buy you another two presents while we’re out today. How’s that, </strong> <strong>popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?” </strong></p><p>"THAT IS NOT HOW YOU DEAL WITH AN INCOMING TANTRUM!!" Molly finally hollered, unable to believe the sheer idiocy of what she was seeing.</p><p><strong>D</strong> <strong>udley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said </strong> <strong>slowly, “So I’ll have thirty . . . thirty . . .” </strong></p><p>"Dear bloody Merlin..." Remus groaned, though his lips were twitching all the same. Many others were having similar difficulties in suppressing their smiles.</p><p>
  <strong>“Thirty-nine, sweetums,” said Aunt Petunia. </strong>
</p><p>This set everyone off into peals of laughter that took several moments to subside.</p><p><strong>“Oh.” Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. “All right </strong> <strong>then.” </strong></p><p>The laughter died out completely, but everyone was in too good a mood to take offense to Dudley's bringing up right then.</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon chuckled. </strong>
</p><p>"It's honestly their fault," Tonks scowled. "They spoiled him rotten. What kind of parent approves of that sort of behavior?" Ted and Andromeda, who had seen more than their fair share of Tonks' temper tantrums, wisely chose not to remind the young Metamorphagus about how often she used to throw the same tantrums, admittedly for different reasons.</p><p><strong>“Little tyke wants his money’s worth, just like his father. ’Atta boy, </strong> <strong>Dudley!” He ruffled Dudley’s hair. </strong></p><p>James made a derisive noise at the back of his throat, both Sirius and Remus had snarled silently, but for Harry's sake, they were doing their best to keep their temper in check.</p><p><strong>At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it </strong> <strong>while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a </strong> <strong>video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a </strong> <strong>VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia </strong> <strong>came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried. </strong></p><p>"Uh oh." Both Hermione and Ron gulped, knowing that this probably signaled that something bad was about to happen to Harry.</p><p><strong>“Bad news, Vernon,” she said. “Mrs. Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take </strong> <strong>him.” She jerked her head in Harry’s direction. </strong></p><p>"Wait, wait." Since James didn't particularly look like he was an inch from exploding, Harry looked his father in the eye. "What do they mean, she couldn't take you?"</p><p>"You'll see." Harry couldn't bring himself to smile, but he made the feeble attempt anyway.</p><p><strong>Dudley’s mouth fell open in horror, but Harry’s heart gave a leap. Every  </strong> <strong>year on Dudley’s birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, </strong> <strong>to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry </strong> <strong>was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. </strong> <strong>Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg </strong> <strong>made him look at photographs of all the cats she’d ever owned. </strong></p><p>"That the reason why you were so quick to take Ron's side against Crookshanks?" Hermione asked with a laugh, and Harry didn't miss a beat in retorting.</p><p>"I have Snuffles for a godfather, why do you think-"</p><p>"<em>SNUFFLES</em>?" James was roaring with laughter, and Lily was giggling beside him. Sirius had turned scarlet, even as he halfheartedly messed Harry's hair, sticking his tongue out at James.</p><p><strong>“Now what?” said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he’d </strong> <strong>planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her </strong> <strong>leg, but it wasn’t easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year </strong> <strong>before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again. </strong></p><p>"You're just like your mother," James sighed, shaking his head, making Lily flush, pleased. "She'll sass her way out of anything that she even remotely doesn't like doing." </p><p>Harry caught Lily's eye and smiled. He'd heard from a lot of people that he was like his father, and it was nice to hear that he did remind people of his mother too. Even if it was just his father.</p><p>
  <strong>“We could phone Marge,” Uncle Vernon suggested. </strong>
</p><p>"Yeah, don't!" Ron grinned.</p><p>"That's the person you blew up, isn't it?" Hermione giggled.</p><p>The exchange left everyone else smiling, while the twins exploded into laughter.</p><p>
  <strong>“Don’t be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy.” </strong>
</p><p>"Yeah, but they do too. Doesn't really make a difference," Neville grumbled.</p><p><strong>The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn’t there </strong> <strong>— or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn’t understand </strong> <strong>them, like a slug. </strong></p><p>"That is"<br/>"The ultimate"<br/>"Insult you could"<br/>"Do to a slug!"</p><p>
  <strong>“What about what’s-her-name, your friend — Yvonne?” </strong>
</p><p>"Why bother asking someone to do you a favor if you can't have the decency to even remember their name?" Luna asked dreamily.</p><p>
  <strong>“On vacation in Majorca,” snapped Aunt Petunia. </strong>
</p><p>Now, there were smirks coming up all around the room. Everyone had a feeling that things were definitely not going in favor of the Dursleys' plans.</p><p><strong>“You could just leave me here,” Harry put in hopefully (he’d be able to </strong> <strong>watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go </strong> <strong>on Dudley’s computer).</strong></p><p>"Good to know you have better plans for yourself than they have for you," James laughed, and even though Lily was trying to look admonishing, she was failing quite miserably.</p><p>
  <strong>Aunt Petunia looked as though she’d just swallowed a lemon. </strong>
</p><p>"Nah, Harry, it wouldn't fit down that throat," Fred grinned, turning to the boy he had practically adopted as his own brother.</p><p>"Yeah mate, look at her, it'd be a miracle if a toothpick fit down that," George completed, bowing as everyone laughed once again.</p><p>
  <strong>“And come back and find the house in ruins?” she snarled. </strong>
</p><p>"It's really not that impressive of a house," Tonks shot back, scowling.</p><p>
  <strong>“I won’t blow up the house,” said Harry, but they weren’t listening. </strong>
</p><p>"You won't?" Sirius asked incredulously, looking down at his godson. "Did you eat something wrong?"</p><p>"I'd just get punished for it!" Harry laughed.</p><p><strong>“I suppose we could take him to the zoo,” said Aunt Petunia slowly, “. . . </strong> <strong>and leave him in the car. . . .” </strong></p><p>"MY SON IS NOT A DOG FOR YOU-"</p><p>"What are you saying about dogs, Lily?" Sirius hollered over the fiery redhead, who immediately looked horrified as she tried to splutter out an apology, which Sirius waved off, laughing.</p><p>
  <strong>“That car’s new, he’s not sitting in it alone. . . .” </strong>
</p><p>"My son's more important than your bloody awful car!" James snarled furiously.</p><p><strong>Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn’t really crying — it had been </strong> <strong>years since he’d really cried — but he knew that if he screwed up his face </strong> <strong>and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted. </strong></p><p>"I'm summing up the entire problem with that child to that alone," Molly declared. "That is most certainly not how you bring up a child!"</p><p><strong>“Dinky Duddydums, don’t cry, Mummy won’t let him spoil your special </strong> <strong>day!” she cried, flinging her arms around him. </strong></p><p>"Dear Merlin..." There was a collective groan of disapproval but no one could be bothered with commenting on Dudley's behavior anymore, until-</p><p><strong>“I . . . don’t . . . want . . . him . . . t-t-to come!” Dudley yelled between </strong> <strong>huge, pretend sobs. “He always sp-spoils everything!” He shot Harry a nasty </strong> <strong>grin through the gap in his mother’s arms. </strong></p><p>"Are you kidding me!" Ron snapped. "He's supposed to our age!"</p><p><strong>Just then, the doorbell rang —“Oh, good Lord, they’re here!” said Aunt </strong> <strong>Petunia frantically — and a moment later, Dudley’s best friend, Piers Polkiss, </strong> <strong>walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He </strong> <strong>was usually the one who held people’s arms behind their backs while Dudley </strong> <strong>hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once. </strong></p><p>"Hypocrite," Hermione scowled.</p><p><strong>Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn’t believe his luck, was sitting in the </strong> <strong>back of the Dursleys’ car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the </strong> <strong>first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn’t been able to think of anything </strong> <strong>else to do with him, but before they’d left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry </strong> <strong>aside. </strong></p><p>"He better not have touched a single hair on you!" James roared. This time, not a single person dared to even try and calm the Potter Lord down.</p><p><strong>“I’m warning you,” he had said, putting his large purple face right up close </strong> <strong>to Harry’s, “I’m warning you now, boy — any funny business, anything at all </strong> <strong>— and you’ll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.” </strong></p><p>"NO!" the twins, Ron, Hermione, Sirius, James and Remus had all yelled in horror. </p><p>
  <strong>“I’m not going to do anything,” said Harry, “honestly . . .” </strong>
</p><p>"I would have wished that you were," Sirius said softly, his voice abjectly sad. "But I can see how that would have ended."</p><p>
  <strong>But Uncle Vernon didn’t believe him. No one ever did. </strong>
</p><p>"OI!" </p><p>"I didn't know you lot existed back then!"</p><p>
  <strong>The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn’t make them happen. </strong>
</p><p>"This must be fun," Hermione giggled. "It's accidental magic, isn't it, Harry?" When he nodded sheepishly, a faint blush creeping up on him, they all relaxed significantly.</p><p><strong>Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking </strong> <strong>as though he hadn’t been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut </strong> <strong>his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left “to </strong> <strong>hide that horrible scar.” Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent </strong> <strong>a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already </strong> <strong>laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, </strong> <strong>he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia </strong> <strong>had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even </strong> <strong>though he had tried to explain that he couldn’t explain how it had grown back </strong> <strong>so quickly. </strong></p><p>"Well - keeping up the Potter looks is an absolute first priority, pup, I don't blame you," Sirius said, with such a straight face that it was ridiculously comical.</p><p><strong>Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting </strong> <strong>old sweater of Dudley’s (brown with orange puff balls). The harder she tried </strong> <strong>to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might </strong> <strong>have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn’t fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had </strong> <strong>decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn’t </strong> <strong>punished. </strong></p><p>"You should have done that for all the elephant clothes that they did hand down to you," Ron scowled. "You should have gotten clothes that fit you! It's not like they couldn't afford it!"</p><p><strong>On the other hand, he’d gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the </strong> <strong>roof of the school kitchens. Dudley’s gang had been chasing him as usual </strong> <strong>when, as much to Harry’s surprise as anyone else’s, there he was sitting on </strong> <strong>the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry’s </strong> <strong>headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all </strong> <strong>he’d tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of </strong> <strong>his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. </strong> <strong>Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump. </strong></p><p>There was pin-drop silence at this, and Harry could feel everyone staring at him.</p><p>"You - you <em>teleported</em>." James breathed, almost unable to believe what he was saying himself. "The only wizard who was known to have ever teleported-"</p><p>"Is Merlin," Remus finished, when James simply flailed as he realized that his son really did not know what he was talking about.</p><p><strong>But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with </strong> <strong>Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn’t school, his </strong> <strong>cupboard, or Mrs. Figg’s cabbage-smelling living room. </strong></p><p>"That sounds gross," Ron commented conversationally.</p><p><strong>While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to </strong> <strong>complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was </strong> <strong>motorcycles. </strong></p><p>"I'm taking you for a ride on that after this. You must have liked it if you remembered it that well," Sirius grinned.</p><p><strong>“. . . roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums,” he said, as a </strong> <strong>motorcycle overtook them. </strong></p><p><strong>“I had a dream about a motorcycle,” said Harry, remembering suddenly. </strong> <strong>“It was flying.” </strong></p><p>"Harry, just why?" Hermione groaned, as there was a collective murmur of apprehension.</p><p><strong>Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around </strong> <strong>in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: </strong> <strong>“MOTORCYCLES DON’T FLY!” </strong></p><p>"Like I didn't know that," Harry muttered, at the same time Sirius yelled, "Yes they do!"</p><p>
  <strong>Dudley and Piers sniggered. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“I know they don’t,” said Harry. “It was only a dream.” </strong>
</p><p>"Well," Sirius barked a laugh. "You know better now."</p><p><strong>But he wished he hadn’t said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys </strong> <strong>hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything </strong> <strong>acting in a way it shouldn’t, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon </strong> <strong>— they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas. </strong></p><p>"Ooh..." the twins chorused, making the Marauders and the Golden Trio laugh.</p><p><strong>It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The </strong> <strong>Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance </strong> <strong>and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he </strong> <strong>wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon </strong> <strong>ice pop. It wasn’t bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a </strong> <strong>gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it </strong> <strong>wasn’t blond. </strong></p><p>The group watching the memories broke out laughing again, glad to escape the reality of Harry's upbringing, even if it was for a short moment.</p><p><strong>Harry had the best morning he’d had in a long time. He was careful to </strong> <strong>walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were </strong> <strong>starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn’t fall back on </strong> <strong>their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when </strong> <strong>Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn’t have enough </strong> <strong>ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was </strong> <strong>allowed to finish the first. </strong></p><p>
  <strong>Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last. </strong>
</p><p>Sirius scowled. He knew Harry had had that nothing-good-lasts outlook all throughout the time Sirius had actually known him, but he didn't think it had started when he was this young.</p><p><strong>After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, </strong> <strong>with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and </strong> <strong>snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and </strong> <strong>Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. </strong> <strong>Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its </strong> <strong>body twice around Uncle Vernon’s car and crushed it into a trash can — but </strong> <strong>at the moment it didn’t look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. </strong></p><p><strong>Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the </strong> <strong>glistening brown coils. </strong></p><p><strong>“Make it move,” he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the </strong> <strong>glass, but the snake didn’t budge. </strong></p><p>"Never thought the day would come when I would be proud of a snake," James snapped. </p><p><strong>“Do it again,” Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with </strong> <strong>his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on. </strong></p><p>"You can say that again, Prongs." Sirius was sporting a thoughtful smile.</p><p>
  <strong>“This is boring,” Dudley moaned. He shuffled away. </strong>
</p><p><strong>Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He </strong> <strong>wouldn’t have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself — no company </strong> <strong>except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it </strong> <strong>all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the </strong> <strong>only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at </strong> <strong>least he got to visit the rest of the house. </strong></p><p>"I wouldn't call that much better," Remus countered, "given that you were 'allowed' to visit the rest of the house so that you could do the chores while they kicked their feet up and lounged about."</p><p><strong>The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised </strong> <strong>its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry’s. </strong></p><p>
  <strong>It winked. </strong>
</p><p>"Snakes don't have eyelids." It was the first time that Snape had spoken since they had started watching the memories, gaining everyone's attention. "They can't normally wink. Only magical ones can."</p><p><strong>Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was </strong> <strong>watching. They weren’t. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. </strong></p><p>"Of all the bloody things to be doing..." Ron wasn't particularly surprised, given that Harry had told him and Hermione about this memory, but it discomfited him all the same.</p><p><strong>The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its </strong> <strong>eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly: </strong> <strong>“I get that all the time.” </strong></p><p>"Oh, we're in your memories so we can hear it as English?" Hermione asked, interested. "It's pretty clear that the snake would only be talking in Parseltongue?" </p><p>"It was," Harry nodded.</p><p><strong>“I know,” Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn’t sure the </strong> <strong>snake could hear him. “It must be really annoying.”</strong></p><p>"Merlin's beard, Harry, why were you talking to the snake?" Neville asked incredulously.</p><p>"Better company than I'd ever had," Harry grinned. He rather liked this particular snake.</p><p>
  <strong>The snake nodded vigorously. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“Where do you come from, anyway?” Harry asked. </strong>
</p><p>The group gave up on trying to fathom why exactly Harry would take such an interest in a random snake.</p><p>
  <strong>The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Boa Constrictor, Brazil. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“Was it nice there?” </strong>
</p><p>Hermione couldn't help giggling. Harry really could be so unpredictable, but she was finding this version of Harry simply adorable. He looked so innocent.</p><p><strong>The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This </strong> <strong>specimen was bred in the zoo. “Oh, I see — so you’ve never been to Brazil?” </strong></p><p><strong>As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of </strong> <strong>them jump. “DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS </strong> <strong>SNAKE! YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT IT’S DOING!” </strong></p><p>"Oh no!" Lily groaned in despair. She hadn't missed Dudley or his parents a bit, and now, the very mention of them was enough to upset her.</p><p>
  <strong>Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could. </strong>
</p><p>"Oh, it must have"<br/>"Taken him eons"<br/>"Imagine waddling"<br/>"All the way there."</p><p><strong>“Out of the way, you,” he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by </strong> <strong>surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so </strong> <strong>fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Piers and Dudley were </strong> <strong>leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of </strong> <strong>horror. </strong></p><p>"Oh, what did you do?!" Sirius was literally bouncing with excitement, and Harry smirked.</p><p><strong>Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor’s tank had </strong> <strong>vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the </strong> <strong>floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for </strong> <strong>the exits. </strong></p><p>"Dear Merlin!" Everyone started laughing, despite the severity of the situation. The Dursleys truly did deserve a little comeback for how they had treated Harry.</p><p><strong>As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing </strong> <b>voice said, “Brazil, here I come. . . . Thanks, amigo.” </b></p><p>There was a round of applause and cheering for the snake.</p><p>
  <strong>The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“But the glass,” he kept saying, “where did the glass go?” </strong>
</p><p>"Wait, wait." Harry turned to Remus. "The glass! It didn't come back?"</p><p>"Not that I know of. I think they got it replaced." Remus could only gape. Most children only Vanished things temporarily, and the Vanished objects would appear after a few minutes.</p><p><strong>The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea </strong> <strong>while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. </strong> <strong>As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn’t done anything except snap </strong> <strong>playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in </strong> <strong>Uncle Vernon’s car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his </strong> <strong>leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, “Harry was </strong> <strong>talking to it, weren’t you, Harry?” </strong></p><p>A collective groan went up from the group, who knew that nothing good was going to come out of this particular revelation. Harry realized that though most of them hadn't known about him being a Parselmouth, they had not even seemed to question it. </p><p><strong>Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting </strong> <strong>on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, “Go </strong> <strong>— cupboard — stay — no meals,” before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt </strong> <strong>Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy. </strong></p><p>"YOU CAN'T LEAVE A CHILD LOCKED UP WITHOUT FEEDING HIM!!" Lily screamed, and it was all James could do to wrap his arms around her, though he too was shaking with fury.</p><p><strong>Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn’t </strong> <strong>know what time it was and he couldn’t be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. </strong> <strong>Until they were, he couldn’t risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food. </strong></p><p>Remus growled dangerously, a low, deep sound that had Tonks tightening her grip around his wrist and Harry throwing a furtive glance at him.</p><p><strong>He’d lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long </strong> <strong>as he could remember, ever since he’d been a baby and his parents had died </strong> <strong>in that car crash. He couldn’t remember being in the car when his parents had </strong> <strong>died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his </strong> <strong>cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light </strong> <strong>and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though </strong> <strong>he couldn’t imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn’t </strong> <strong>remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and </strong> <strong>of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of </strong> <strong>them in the house. </strong></p><p>Lily let out a dry sob. She hadn't expected there to be any pictures of them in her sister's house, but it was just sad that Harry was now ten, and had no idea what they looked like.</p><p><strong>When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some </strong> <strong>unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the </strong> <strong>Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) </strong> <strong>that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they </strong> <strong>were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out </strong> <strong>shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he </strong> <strong>knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying </strong> <strong>anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily </strong> <strong>at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually </strong> <strong>shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a </strong> <strong>word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look. </strong></p><p><strong>At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley’s gang hated </strong> <strong>that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley’s gang.</strong></p><p>"You'll find there are quite a lot of people who wouldn't mind teaching them the lesson of a lifetime, pup," Sirius said, menace lacing his voice. "But it'll have to wait till we finish seeing all your memories. It's pretty late tonight, though. I think it's best if we all went home for now, got some sleep, and continue watching the memories after we have a good breakfast tomorrow."</p><p>"I want to go back to the Hollow, and then the Den," James said finally. "I don't think Lordship was transferred to you, Harry, so I'm going to make sure some things are in order." Harry nodded. </p><p>"I'll be going with James," Lily smiled. She really wanted to spend time with her son, but he had been through a lot, and had just finished fighting off Voldemort, and she knew that right now, he needed Sirius more than he needed her or James.</p><p>They watched as James and Lily Apparated away, and Ron and Hermione hugged Harry goodbye as they headed back to the Burrow to call it a night with the Weasleys. The twins came to give him a hug as well, before clapping him on the back and Apparating home. That left Sirius and Remus with Harry, and the two Marauders exchanged a significant look. </p><p>"Tonks and I are going to head back," Remus said finally. "We left Teddy with Ted and Andy. Goodnight, Harry, Sirius."</p><p>"Night, Remus." "Goodnight, Moony."</p><p>"Well," Sirius said, with a nervous laugh, "it's just us, Harry. What do you say we head back to Grimmauld Place and-"</p><p>"We can't go back to Grimmauld Place," Harry said softly.</p><p>"Why not?"</p><p>"We left Yaxley back there in a mishap with the Ministry earlier this year," Harry said quietly, wincing as he remembered the state of Ron's arm.</p><p>"Let's go to Black Manor then." Seeing Harry's utterly confused look, Sirius explained further. "It's a pretty nice mansion, though we didn't live there much. It's not in town, just out in the country."</p><p>Sirius and Harry Apparated out, with Harry simply using Side-Along Apparition because he did not really know Black Manor.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Letters from No One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Both Sirius and Harry had been far too worn out - Harry from both the war and reliving some of his most unpleasant memories, and Sirius from what he had seen of Harry's early life with the Dursleys - to do anything but collapse onto the bed when they appeared at Black Manor.</p><p>Sirius did not immediately fall asleep, but lay awake for a long time, thinking back to how things could have been so much different, if only he hadn't suggested to James that they change the Secret Keeper, if only he hadn't taken off after Pettigrew, if only they had informed Dumbledore or Remus about their plans to change the Secret Keeper! Even if Peter had betrayed the Potters' location and James and Lily didn't make it, then he would have been able to bring up his godson, and Remus wouldn't have had to live alone for all those years. Harry needn't have nightmares every time he thought back to his childhood, and the remaining two Marauders might have suffered a lot less heartache.</p><p>After some time, he had turned to Harry, intending to tell him that he could just show them the memories at Hogwarts, but his godson was fast asleep, glasses askew on his blotched face. Sirius sighed as he cast a few cleaning charms to remove the grime, blood and sweat from the teenager, who still looked far too old for his age, and his heart ached for the boy who he saw as his own son.  He bent down to press a soft kiss against the scabbed scar, before settling down in bed next to Harry, one arm slung protectively over the sleeping teen.</p><p>Harry woke up with the first rays of the sun, his stomach feeling queasy as he remembered the dreams he had been having - Sirius falling through the veil, Remus crumpling as the Killing Curse hit him. He had looked over at Sirius a million times since he woke up, until the man finally stirred and opened his stormy gray eyes blearily.</p><p>"Morning, pup." Sirius yawned and stretched languidly as he sat up in the bed. "Go clean up. We're going to Hogwarts for breakfast. Prongs and Moony said they'd meet us there."</p><p>Harry was still tired, but smiled and headed off to clean up, only too glad to take up the offer of a shower. Sirius cleaned up after him, and they Apparated to Hogwarts. James and Lily were waiting for them in the Great Hall, as were Hermione and the other Weasleys. Remus and Tonks stepped out of the Floo minutes after Harry and Sirius had taken their seats. No one was in much of a mood to talk, so they just exchanged greetings quietly before tucking into a warm, hearty breakfast of potatoes, toast, sausages, bacon, eggs and pumpkin juice.</p><p>No sooner were they done with breakfast than they headed back up to the Headmaster's office, where Harry put the next set of memories into the Pensieve, after making sure Hermione had taken everyone's wands. </p><p>
  <strong>The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry his longest-ever punishment. By the time he was allowed out of his cupboard again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley’s gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley’s favorite sport: Harry Hunting.</strong>
</p><p>There were several scowls once again. Everyone had had a bad night thinking about how Harry had been treated by his horrible relatives, and James and Lily were faring fairly worse than the others when it came to keeping their tempers in check. Remus had been guilt-tripping himself since the previous night, and this was only intensifying it.</p><p>
  <strong>This was why Harry spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope. When September came he would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in his life, he wouldn’t be with Dudley. Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon’s old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry, on the other hand, was going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“They stuff people’s heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall,” he told Harry. “Want to come upstairs and practice?”</strong>
</p><p>"THEY WHAT?!" Lily shrieked in pure horror, before she turned, wide-eyed, to her son. "Tell me that's not - that cannot be true - it's not-"</p><p>"It's not like he would know," Sirius grinned, so cheerfully that it took her by surprise. "He never went there, Lils! You're supposed to be the smartest witch of our generation! He attended Hogwarts!"</p><p>Lily blushed furiously as James laughed and put an arm around her.</p><p>
  <strong>“No, thanks,” said Harry. “The poor toilet’s never had anything as horrible as your head down it — it might be sick.” Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he’d said.</strong>
</p><p>"Smart," Remus grinned, before lowering his voice so only Harry and Sirius could hear, "just like your mother."</p><p>
  <strong>One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy his Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry at Mrs. Figg’s. Mrs. Figg wasn’t as bad as usual. It turned out she’d broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn’t seem quite as fond of them as before. She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she’d had it for several years. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren’t looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.</strong>
</p><p>There was a general uproar of protest at this, even from the twins and Marauders, who, despite loving the trouble they caused for their teachers, would never dream of doing it in such a disrespectful manner. </p><p>
  <strong>As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn’t believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Harry didn’t trust himself to speak. He thought two of his ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.</strong>
</p><p>"I'm surprised they even did it in that house," Tonks scowled. </p><p>"What was it though? Why were they cleaning rags?" Hermione asked curiously. Harry rolled his eyes in reply.</p><p>
  <strong>“What’s this?” he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.</strong>
</p><p>"I didn't realize it was that strict," Hermione said sadly. She thought it had been limited to asking about things they didn't like talking about - magic, his parents and things like that. She had never thought that he wasn't allowed to ask questions whatsoever.</p><p>
  <strong>“Your new school uniform,” she said.</strong>
</p><p>"Hang on a second - <em>those are rags</em>!" Sirius roared.</p><p>"It's not like I'd ever need them," Harry grinned. "You said it yourself, I'm coming to Hogwarts." That mollified Sirius somewhat.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry looked in the bowl again. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>"Oh,” he said, “I didn’t realize it had to be so wet.”</strong>
</p><p>"It doesn't have to be the way it is at all, but alright," Remus snorted.</p><p>
  <strong>“Don’t be stupid,” snapped Aunt Petunia. “I’m dyeing some of Dudley’s old things gray for you. It’ll look just like everyone else’s when I’ve finished.”</strong>
</p><p>"That's highly unlikely," Lily snapped, but they were all keeping in mind that Harry would never actually go through with this, he would be coming to Hogwarts.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think about how he was going to look on his first day at Stonewall High — like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.</strong>
</p><p>"It did look like that anyway, given how ridiculously big his clothes were for you!" Molly huffed. "I'm honestly amazed that you haven't learned a proper Shrinking Charm, just for that!"</p><p>
  <strong>Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from Harry’s new uniform. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>They heard the click of the mail slot and flop of letters on the doormat.</strong>
</p><p>"Wait, someone explain." The Weasleys all looked thoroughly confused.</p><p>"It's how Muggles receive mail. They have a flap on their doors through which the letters are pushed inside by the mailman, so that even if they're not home, they'll still get the mail," Remus explained.</p><p>
  <strong>“Get the mail, Dudley,” said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“Make Harry get it.”</strong>
</p><p>"Get it yourself!" Fred snapped, annoyed.</p><p>"Bloody damn pig." George scowled in unison.</p><p>
  <strong>“Get the mail, Harry.”</strong>
</p><p>"I'd say something about not condoning such behavior, but I doubt it's going to be of any use," Bill sighed.</p><p>
  <strong>“Make Dudley get it.”</strong>
</p><p>"Tell 'em Harry," Hagrid growled in approval, making Harry smile halfheartedly. </p><p>
  <strong>“Poke him with your Smelting stick, Dudley.”</strong>
</p><p>"OI!" Both Ron and Sirius had let out undignified indignant yells. but Harry was glaring at their overreactions, so they subsided, sulking.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry dodged the Smelting stick and went to get the mail. Three things lay on the doormat: a postcard from Uncle Vernon’s sister Marge, who was vacationing on the Isle of Wight, a brown envelope that looked like a bill, and — a letter for Harry.</strong>
</p><p>"Your Hogwarts letter?" Hermione asked curiously, and he nodded, grimacing as he remembered how this particular incident had gone down.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one, ever, in his whole life, had written to him. Who would? He had no friends, no other relatives — he didn’t belong to the library, so he’d never even got rude notes asking for books back. </strong>
</p><p>"You're the only person I know of who would be upset about not getting a rude note from the library," Hermione said, but her attempt at lightening the mood was completely futile.</p><p>
  <strong>Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Mr. H. Potter</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>The Cupboard under the Stairs</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>4 Privet Drive</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Little Whinging</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Surrey</strong>
</p><p>"Minerva, don't you write those letters?" James asked, his voice dangerously calm, and McGonagall nodded, as though she could foresee what was going to come next. </p><p>"YOU KNEW! YOU KNEW WHERE HE SLEPT! YOU KNEW HOW THEY WERE TREATING HIM!" To everyone's surprise, it wasn't James, or even Sirius, who exploded, but rather Lily. "AND YOU SAID NOTHING?!"</p><p>"It's not that I said nothing, Mrs. Potter," McGonagall replied, her tone closely resembling James', as she directed a cold look at Dumbledore. "But rather it did not seem to make a difference."</p><p>
  <strong>The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in emerald-green ink. There was no stamp. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake surrounding a large letter H.</strong>
</p><p>"Damn, mate," Ron grinned weakly. "You sure took your time examining the outside of it."</p><p>"Well, he'd never seen one before," Charlie said reasonably. </p><p>"If he'd grown up with the people he deserved to grow up with, it wouldn't be that way," Bill muttered under his breath.</p><p>
  <strong>“Hurry up, boy!” shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. “What are you doing, checking for letter bombs?” He chuckled at his own joke.</strong>
</p><p>"What's a letter bomb?" Fred asked curiously.</p><p>"It doesn't actually exist," Remus sighed.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry went back to the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and the postcard, sat down, and slowly began to open the yellow envelope. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust, and flipped over the postcard.</strong>
</p><p>"What's a postcard?" Fred asked curiously.</p><p>"In the Muggle world, when you go vacationing to another place, you usually send a postcard to the people back home that kind of shows off the place and stuff," Lily explained.</p><p>
  <strong>“Marge’s ill,” he informed Aunt Petunia. “Ate a funny whelk . . .”</strong>
</p><p>"No regrets there," Ron said vehemently, "whatsoever." The adults looked at him curiously, but only saw the Golden Trio exchange a dark look among themselves.</p><p>
  <strong>“Dad!” said Dudley suddenly. “Dad, Harry’s got something!”</strong>
</p><p>"Merlin!" Bill exclaimed in disgust. "What is that idiot's problem?!"</p><p>
  <strong>Harry was on the point of unfolding his letter, which was written on the same heavy parchment as the envelope, when it was jerked sharply out of his hand by Uncle Vernon.</strong>
</p><p>"HEY!" There were several indignant protests at how undignifiedly the man could approach his nephew, while Arthur's lips had whitened in memory of his encounter with the said man.</p><p>
  <strong>“That’s mine!” said Harry, trying to snatch it back.</strong>
</p><p>"True, but-"<br/>"Wasn't the smartest thing to do."</p><p>
  <strong>“Who’d be writing to you?” sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face went from red to green faster than a set of traffic lights. And it didn’t stop there. Within seconds it was the grayish white of old porridge.</strong>
</p><p>"Eww," Lily scrunched up her nose in disgust, but she couldn't hide her gleeful smirk.</p><p>"The very thought of us could actually get them that scared huh?" Ron said thoughtfully.</p><p>"It explains why they treated you the way they did, even if it isn't at all excusable," Remus mused quietly. "They were scared of powers that they didn't have, powers they knew that he had."</p><p>
  <strong>“P-P-Petunia!” he gasped. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Dudley tried to grab the letter to read it, but Uncle Vernon held it high out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she might faint. She clutched her throat and made a choking noise.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“Vernon! Oh my goodness — Vernon!”</strong>
</p><p>"Wow," Fred snorted sarcastically. "They've finally learnt each other's names!"</p><p>"After who cares how many years of being married, to boot."</p><p>
  <strong>They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn’t used to being ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smelting stick.</strong>
</p><p>"He did what?!" Molly gaped in pure horror. "That - that was his father! He hit his father over the head with that - that - and got away with it?!"</p><p>Harry nodded in slight amusement, a twisted smile tugging at his lips. There was literally nothing he could think of that Dudley had not gotten away with doing. Sirius noticed his godson's mood souring, and immediately slung a reassuring arm around him.</p><p>
  <strong>“I want to read that letter,” he said loudly.</strong>
</p><p>"I honestly doubt he even knows how to read..." Remus muttered darkly, catching sight of Harry's sour expression. The younger man was giving off a covert vicious aura that Remus immediately noticed thanks to his sharper werewolf senses, but he didn't think it was a safe subject to approach at the moment.</p><p>
  <strong>“I want to read it,” said Harry furiously, “as it’s mine.”</strong>
</p><p>"You tell him, Harry!" the twins cheered, whooping as Harry finally mustered up enough courage to stand up for himself.</p><p>Ron and Hermione, however, looked anxious, knowing that this couldn't bode well for their best friend.</p><p>
  <strong>“Get out, both of you,” croaked Uncle Vernon, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.</strong>
</p><p>"Both of them?" Lily looked puzzled. "I understand them not wanting Harry there, but why would they -"</p><p>"Because Dudley didn't know," Bill said, as realization dawned. "Dudley had no idea that Harry was a wizard either. I'll bet he didn't know about Mrs. Potter, either."</p><p>
  <strong>Harry didn’t move.</strong>
</p><p>"Oh no." Both Hermione and Ron groaned, having been on the receiving end of Harry's anger far too many times for their liking.</p><p>
  <strong>“I WANT MY LETTER!” he shouted.</strong>
</p><p>"Yikes, mate!" The twins jumped in surprise, and both Sirius and Remus had let out pitiful howls, and were now rubbing their overly sensitive ears.</p><p>"I'm fine," Sirius said weakly, while Remus nodded in affirmation. "Just took us by surprise." James scoffed and rolled his eyes at the other two Marauders, as Kingsley tumbled in, to watch the memory.</p><p>
  <strong>“Let me see it!” demanded Dudley.</strong>
</p><p>"Why in Merlin's name was he so interested in it?" Charlie scowled. He was liking Harry's cousin less and less with every passing second.</p><p>
  <strong>“OUT!” roared Uncle Vernon, and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruffs of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them. Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight over who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won, so Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach to listen at the crack between door and floor.</strong>
</p><p>"Not like you could have won a physical fight with that lump of rotten lard," Sirius said comfortingly, noticing how Harry's cheeks had flushed. "But at least you tried, for what that was worth."</p><p>
  <strong>“Vernon,” Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, “look at the address — how could they possibly know where he sleeps? You don’t think they’re watching the house?”</strong>
</p><p>Percy, Arthur and Kingsley all spluttered in indignation at the very thought that the Ministry would be doing something as mundane as manually watching a Muggle household.</p><p>
  <strong>“Watching — spying — might be following us,” muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.</strong>
</p><p>"Who in their right mind would follow them is my question," Kingsley grumbled.</p><p>
  <strong>“But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back? Tell them we don’t want —”</strong>
</p><p>"NO!" Just about everyone had roared in horror, knowing full well that Hogwarts would not force anyone to attend.</p><p>"But - but they couldn't have, right?" Harry asked, puzzled.</p><p>"It would have been followed up on, and no one would hear of you not attending Hogwarts because those pigs didn't want you to," Kingsley reassured him immediately.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry could see Uncle Vernon’s shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“No,” he said finally. “No, we’ll ignore it. If they don’t get an answer. . . . Yes, that’s best . . . we won’t do anything. . . .”</strong>
</p><p>"But that means that Harry will go to Hogwarts!" James crowed in delight. "They threw away their only chance of not sending him there!"</p><p>
  <strong>“But —”</strong>
</p><p>"Petunia knows that, though." They all sobered up instantly at Lily's comment, remembering that Petunia knew quite a lot about the wizarding world.</p><p>
  <strong>“I’m not having one in the house, Petunia! Didn’t we swear when we took him in we’d stamp out that dangerous nonsense?”</strong>
</p><p>"SAY WHAT?" Sirius roared, and Harry backed up away from him immediately.</p><p>"They better not have touched so much as a hair on-"</p><p>"DAD!" Harry shouted over the commotion, and instantly the hubbub subdued - partially because Lily was in shock, James was transfixed, and no one else could remember Harry ever saying the word before - and Harry ran a hand through his hair exasperatedly. "I'm fine. It's not something they actually really followed up on."</p><p>The twins, Ron and Hermione all made derisive noises that luckily went unheard by James, but both Sirius and Remus had picked up on it, though they chose not to make a comment.</p><p>
  <strong>That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he’d never done before; he visited Harry in his cupboard.</strong>
</p><p>"Did he fit?" Despite it being a genuinely curious comment, Fred's voice had lost any humor it had. </p><p>
  <strong>“Where’s my letter?” said Harry, the moment Uncle Vernon had squeezed through the door. “Who’s writing to me?”</strong>
</p><p>"No beating around the bush, Harry?" Hermione teased tentatively, and grinned when he stuck his tongue out at her childishly.</p><p>
  <strong>“No one. It was addressed to you by mistake,” said Uncle Vernon shortly. “I have burned it.”</strong>
</p><p>"It wasn't a mistake," James snorted. "How thick would you have to be to think of such a lame excuse?" Sirius and Remus promptly lapsed into coughing fits, while Snape rolled his eyes, lips twitching.</p><p>"It had his cupboard on it, how could that have been a mistake?!" Lily scowled.</p><p>
  <strong>“It was not a mistake,” said Harry angrily, “it had my cupboard on it.”</strong>
</p><p>"Umm..." Hermione glanced from James to Lily, and then back at Harry, before bursting into a fit of giggles. Sirius and Remus grinned, smirking behind their godson's back.</p><p>James caught Harry's eye and winked, while Lily had a brilliant smile on.</p><p>
  <strong>“SILENCE!” yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling. He took a few deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile, which looked quite painful.</strong>
</p><p>"O-ooh...." Fred moaned as he mock-collapsed into his younger twin's waiting arms. "Can you believe it was just that much more painful to look at that?" he grinned.</p><p>
  <strong>“Er — yes, Harry — about this cupboard. Your aunt and I have been thinking . . . you’re really getting a bit big for it . . . we think it might be nice if you moved into Dudley’s second bedroom.”</strong>
</p><p>"S- second bedroom. Yeah. Okay. Carry on." Sirius' calm, completely unruffled voice promised a fate far worse than death, with all the madness, venom, and power that came with the Black family packed into that one wordless promise, though his arm was wrapped comfortingly around his godson's shoulders.</p><p>
  <strong>“Why?” said Harry.</strong>
</p><p>"For the love of Merlin, Harry!" Fred exclaimed, making Harry turn to him, puzzled.</p><p>"What?"</p><p>"That's the only nice thing they've said to you in ten bloody years and you're going to question it?" George gaped.</p><p>"Bit suspicious though, isn't it?" Ron asked. "They'd never said a kind word to him before. Why now?"</p><p>
  <strong>“Don’t ask questions!” snapped his uncle. “Take this stuff upstairs, now.”</strong>
</p><p>"How could you forget - that bloody rule about never asking questions," Bill snapped bitterly.</p><p>
  <strong>The Dursleys’ house had four bedrooms: one for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon’s sister, Marge), one where Dudley slept, and one where Dudley kept all the toys and things that wouldn’t fit into his first bedroom. It only took Harry one trip upstairs to move everything he owned from the cupboard to this room. He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month-old video camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next door neighbor’s dog; in the corner was Dudley’s first-ever television set, which he’d put his foot through when his favorite program had been canceled; there was a large birdcage, which had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air rifle, which was up on a shelf with the end all bent because Dudley had sat on it. Other shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they’d never been touched.</strong>
</p><p>"Wait." They all turned to Lily, who was hauling in a breath, as if she was trying to keep herself from outright exploding. "He had a second bedroom, to keep broke, useless junk lying around in there?!"</p><p>"Um..." Harry didn't really want to answer that honestly, but his reluctance was answer enough for his mother, whose green eyes began to glitter malevolently. </p><p>
  <strong>From downstairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother, “I don’t want him in there . . . I need that room . . . make him get out. . . .”</strong>
</p><p>"The hell does he need that room," Ron snarled.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he’d have given anything to be up here. Today he’d rather be back in his cupboard with that letter than up here without it.</strong>
</p><p>This quietened everyone down, as they could easily relate to how Harry was feeling. He had lived his entire life not knowing that there was a single person who cared for him, and the very moment there was any proof of it, he was getting treated only fractionally better, but at the cost of not knowing who was writing to him, or what for.</p><p>
  <strong>Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He’d screamed, whacked his father with his Smelting stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother, and thrown his tortoise through the greenhouse roof, and he still didn’t have his room back. Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he’d opened the letter in the hall. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.</strong>
</p><p>"Well, I'm pretty sure you'll get another letter," Hermione said brightly. "Just make sure you open it alone then."</p><p>
  <strong>When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it. They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, “There’s another one! ‘Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive —’”</strong>
</p><p>"MORON!" The twins roared in frustration.</p><p>"It's not like his father is going to let him read it," Bill smirked in minor satisfaction, though he too was disappointed.</p><p>
  <strong>With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind. After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry’s letter clutched in his hand.</strong>
</p><p>"Aw man." Sirius groaned. He had hoped that the split second teaming up between the cousins would have at least given Harry the chance to get his letter, but their luck apparently wasn't that great.</p><p>
  <strong>“Go to your cupboard — I mean, your bedroom,” he wheezed at Harry. “Dudley — go — just go.” </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn’t received his first letter. Surely that meant they’d try again? And this time he’d make sure they didn’t fail. He had a plan.</strong>
</p><p>"Oh no!" This time, Sirius, Remus, Ron and Hermione all groaned as one, earning them two identical glares from two almost identical looking men.</p><p>
  <strong>The repaired alarm clock rang at six o’clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn’t wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first. His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door —</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“AAAAARRRGH!”</strong>
</p><p>Once again, Sirius and Remus had to take some time off to nurse their aching ears, but they hurried back so that they wouldn't miss any of the action.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry leapt into the air; he’d trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat — something alive!</strong>
</p><p>"Of all the bad luck in the world, cub," Remus groaned, and Harry could only grin up at him sheepishly. It really hadn't been that great a plan.</p><p>
  <strong>Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle’s face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn’t do exactly what he’d been trying to do. He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon’s lap. Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.</strong>
</p><p>"There were three," Ron grinned. holding up three fingers knowingly. "One for your mad uncle to bawl over, one to shut up Pig Jr., and you can get the last while they're both distracted."</p><p>"Didn't turn out that way, did it?" Harry grinned. "It gets a lot more ridiculous than that. All over a bloody letter."</p><p>
  <strong>“I want —” he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes.</strong>
</p><p>"Ouch," Charlie winced. "That should count well into the pages of psychological torture."</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon didn’t go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.</strong>
</p><p>"Okay, what?" Remus asked, bemused.</p><p>
  <strong>“See,” he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, “if they can’t deliver them they’ll just give up.”</strong>
</p><p>"Yeah, but they wouldn't get any mail either..." Hermione frowned.</p><p>
  <strong>“I’m not sure that’ll work, Vernon.”</strong>
</p><p>"More like, she knows that it's not going to work," Lily said, worried.</p><p>
  <strong>“Oh, these people’s minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they’re not like you and me,” said Uncle Vernon, trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.</strong>
</p><p>"Well," Dumbledore finally spoke up. "For that, I believe we all would be eternally glad." There was a good round of laughter and cheering for that.</p><p>
  <strong>On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn’t go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.</strong>
</p><p>"Well, this is getting desperate..." Ron chuckled, clearly just deciding to ride along with the suddenly hilarious scene for now.</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” as he worked, and jumped at small noises.</strong>
</p><p>"Well, he practically put everyone in there under a literal house arrest!" Hermione exclaimed.</p><p>
  <strong>On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window. While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor.</strong>
</p><p>"How about you just let him read the bloody thing?" Lily groaned, frustrated. All this fuss over a simple letter!</p><p>
  <strong>“Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?” Dudley asked Harry in amazement.</strong>
</p><p>Ron, Hermione and Sirius exchanged quick, guilty glances over each other's heads, remembering the summer before their fifth year, and looked away hastily.</p><p>
  <strong>On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“No post on Sundays,” he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers, “no damn letters today —”</strong>
</p><p>"Yeah, that's not how our post works," Bill grinned cheerily.</p><p>
  <strong>Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one —</strong>
</p><p>"Merlin Harry!" the twins chorused in surprised frustration, making Harry flush scarlet.</p><p>"Whatever happened to discretely picking one off the ground?" Hermione laughed.</p><p>
  <strong>“Out! OUT!” </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall. </strong>
</p><p>"OII!" Sirius and James had both roared in fury, advancing on the memory, but Harry had anticipated as much, and threw both his arms around Sirius, noticing out the corner of his eye that his mother had done the same with a completely unintelligible James.</p><p>
  <strong>When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor.</strong>
</p><p>"To think there were that many and you still didn't get a single one though...." Charlie was struggling to keep a straight face.</p><p>
  <strong>“That does it,” said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his mustache at the same time. “I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We’re going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!”</strong>
</p><p>"Leaving the house isn't going to help any," Kingsley said, with a derisive laugh. "We're not that incompetent."</p><p>
  <strong>He looked so dangerous with half his mustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.</strong>
</p><p>"Well, we'd noticed," Percy grinned, "that he might just be a complete moron."</p><p>
  <strong>They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn’t dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while.</strong>
</p><p>"What the hell was he even trying to achieve with that?" Remus asked incredulously.</p><p>
  <strong>“Shake ’em off . . . shake ’em off,” he would mutter whenever he did this.</strong>
</p><p>"We're not bloody well following them!" Kingsley exclaimed. "The Ministry does not have the manpower or the lack of means that they would have to manually follow a person around!"</p><p>
  <strong>They didn’t stop to eat or drink all day. By nightfall Dudley was howling. He’d never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he’d missed five television programs he’d wanted to see, and he’d never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering. . . .</strong>
</p><p>"Wondering if you would ever get the letter?" Hermione asked, and Harry nodded neutrally. It wasn't as though he had had anything else to think about back then, though that changed quickly enough.</p><p>
  <strong>They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day. They had just finished when the owner of the hotel came over to their table. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“’Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an ’undred of these at the front desk.” She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address:</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Mr. H. Potter</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Room 17</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Railview Hotel</strong>
  <br/>
  <strong>Cokeworth</strong>
</p><p>"A HUNDRED?" Sirius and James echoed, unable to believe their ears, as they turned to Minerva, who was doing her best to keep her composure.</p><p>"What?" she asked finally, lips twitching treacherously. "I knew they hadn't let him read the letter yet, what did you expect?"</p><p>"You're the best, Minnie." James looked like he would have kissed her for how ecstatic he was.</p><p>
  <strong>Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.</strong>
</p><p>"Anyone would!" Remus snorted. "Behaving that way in the safety of your own home is one thing, but to be doing it in public and with an audience?"</p><p>
  <strong>“I’ll take them,” said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“Wouldn’t it be better just to go home, dear?” Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn’t seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a plowed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.</strong>
</p><p>Kingsley and Percy looked like they would burst a couple of veins from indignant frustration. Arthur was shaking his head, while Molly and Lily fretted over the state of the two children. James, Sirius and Remus, however, were mostly concerned about Harry, who seemed a lot more gloomy than before the letters started arriving.</p><p>
  <strong>"Daddy’s gone mad, hasn’t he?” Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared.</strong>
</p><p>"He couldn't possibly leave them there, locked in a car!" Lily gasped in horror.</p><p>"I'm pretty sure that he's the kind of person who won't have to worry about a guilty conscience over something like that," Molly said grimly.</p><p>"That answers your question," Sirius said darkly. "The pig actually has gone fucking mad."</p><p>
  <strong>It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>“It’s Monday,” he told his mother. “The Great Humberto’s on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television.”</strong>
</p><p>"That's what he's worried about?" Remus exploded. "Goodness only knows what could be going through his insane father's mind, and he's worried about a television program?!"</p><p>
  <strong>Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday — and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days of the week, because of television — then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry’s eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun — last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon’s old socks. Still, you weren’t eleven every day.</strong>
</p><p>"Aw." Hermione couldn't help but sniffle a little. She had had the toughest time erasing her parent's memories, but at least she still had those brilliant memories of her own childhood to keep her sane.</p><p>James caught Sirius and Remus' eyes without the others noticing, and there was an unspoken vow to make the rest of Harry's birthday's overcompensate for each one that they had missed.</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn’t answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he’d bought.</strong>
</p><p>This worried everyone, since the only person Vernon had showed any sort of decency to was his wife, and if it had gotten this bad, the children's lives could very well be in danger.</p><p>
  <strong>“Found the perfect place!” he said. “Come on! Everyone out!” </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there.</strong>
</p><p>"Forget television!" Lily exclaimed, horrified. "There's not going to be any electricity - or gas - or probably even any running water in that place! Surely he isn't thinking of staying there!"</p><p>
  <strong>“Storm forecast for tonight!” said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. “And this gentleman’s kindly agreed to lend us his boat!”</strong>
</p><p>"S-Storm. There's a storm and he's going to take a boat out to the middle of a standalone rock in the middle of the sea?" Hermione looked like she would faint. </p><p>
  <strong>A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-gray water below them.</strong>
</p><p>"That's not even a proper boat, that's a rowboat!" Remus cried, outraged. "How on earth does he even plan on getting them there in one piece?"</p><p>
  <strong>“I’ve already got us some rations,” said Uncle Vernon, “so all aboard!”</strong>
</p><p>"Trust him to have thought about food," Molly snorted, but her worry was written all over her face anyway.</p><p>
  <strong>It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms.</strong>
</p><p>"Oh great, there was no fire, no electricity and it was damp," Lily sniffed. "That's bad for anyone's health, but honestly, what was wrong with just giving him his letter?"</p><p>
  <strong>Uncle Vernon’s rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shriveled up.</strong>
</p><p>"At least you got some food, though honestly, I'd not call them rations of any sort," Sirius grumbled. He was still feeling guilty that it was his fault Harry had had to live this kind of a life.</p><p>
  <strong>“Could do with some of those letters now, eh?” he said cheerfully.</strong>
</p><p>"You sure could, you lumpy oaf," James rebutted dully.</p><p>
  <strong>He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn’t cheer him up at all.</strong>
</p><p>"Aw, come on Harry," Bill said, unable to help himself, given how forlorn the adorable younger boy looked. "You can't give up on us just like that."</p><p>Harry smiled back at him ruefully.</p><p>
  <strong>As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few moldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.</strong>
</p><p>There were growls all around the room at this, with even Snape starting to look distinctly uncomfortable. After all, he had tortured the boy throughout his years at Hogwarts, under the belief that he had been treated like a king, the same way his father had been, but the reality was so much more disturbing. Snape would even admit to Harry's childhood being worse than his own.</p><p>
  <strong>The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn’t sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. Dudley’s snores were drowned by the low rolls of thunder that started near midnight. The lighted dial of Dudley’s watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he’d be eleven in ten minutes’ time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.</strong>
</p><p>"To hell with the Dursleys, we wouldn't forget your birthday, mate," Ron grinned up at him. "I mean, it's in barely a couple of months from now!"</p><p>"As for the letter writer," Minerva said with a soft chuckle. "She's just waiting to see how the Dursleys react to the next approach to getting your letter to you." </p><p>"You're in for a treat, Professor."</p><p>
  <strong>Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn’t going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did. Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he’d be able to steal one somehow.</strong>
</p><p>"If they are actually going back to that house, what with the way that he's been acting..." Lily muttered angrily.</p><p><strong>Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that? And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock </strong> <strong>crumbling into the sea?</strong></p><p>"It was that unstable!" Hermione squealed, clinging onto Ron's hand in fright, as she shifted from foot to foot anxiously. "He took them to a shack on a rock that wouldn't even survive the storm!"</p><p>"Nah, they're all fine, remember?" Ron said, but he looked like he had swallowed thrice before he remembered that himself.</p><p>
  <strong>One minute to go and he’d be eleven. Thirty seconds . . . twenty . . . ten . . . nine — maybe he’d wake Dudley up, just to annoy him — three . . . two . . . one . . .</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>BOOM.</strong>
</p><p>"What in bloody-"</p><p>"No, nothing exploded..." Remus said curiously, looking at Harry, his expression thoughtful more than anything else. "That wasn't the kind of noise made by an explosion." Harry smirked.</p><p>
  <strong>The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.</strong>
</p><p>"Who in the name of bloody Merlin would knock like that?" Sirius demanded, and Harry made it a point to avoid looking at Hagrid, who he could tell was holding back a laugh.</p><p>"Hang on, that's the end of this memory," he grinned. "You're going to like the next one. Move over, Hermione, let me change it."</p><p>Hermione stepped aside as Harry extracted the memory - one that he looked back on fondly - and dropped into the Pensieve. </p>
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